As far as storms go – it has been quite sunny. There have been loads of rainbows, loads of strong winds and loads of that big fat raindrop rain, thunder and lightning and we got hail – loads of hail! Around 2:00pm the temperature dropped to 6°C but for the most part it was sunny.
For some of my fellow kiwis, it is a bit more serious. Record breaking snowstorms; dangerous winds up to 200km; the severe flooding, landslides and over 30,000 homes without electricity. Roads and schools have been closed and flights cancelled. It’s all pretty dramatic. They say it is the worst storm for decades.
We are still pretty much in the heart of the storm and there is still a chance we may see snow up here, but it is a very, very slim chance.
But being a diligent guardian of all things green in the greenhouse, I braved the elements and went to check on everything growing away and gave them a wee drink. The onions are slowly popping up. If they don’t hurry up, I may be forced to bring them inside in the warm. But I got a bit of a surprise when I checked on the peas. Quite a few had come up. I thought the mice had eaten the lot, however it would seem they only ate about a third of them. I slandered them all about the place when it turns out they aren’t as greedy as I accused them of being. Although they are still thieves!
So two thirds of my peas popped up, I still felt the loss of the stolen peas. My row would be too short. This was easily solved by sowing some more and this lot are all safe and snug under my “anti-mouse seed protector device” version 2.
On a cold winters day there is nothing like a doing a bit of baking, and slaving over a hot stove is much more desirable than in the height of summer. The problem was I really wasn’t thinking properly as I began my baking endeavour I decided I was on a roll with the pumpkin thing and found a recipe for chocolate pumpkin muffins, but once I began, I came across part of the recipe that I didn’t understand – but I’d already started, so I looked at a few more recipes and decided to wing it. I know baking is a science and there are rules you should follow. Having said that, I’m not one for following instructions closely.
It would have been fine, but I made a dreadful error. I reached into the pantry, grabbed a big white container with white crystals and proceeded to tip three quarters of a cup into my mix. Arggh its not sugar. It’s salt! Realising the error of my ways before I had stirred it in I decided to scoop it out. I thought I had managed to get enough out to carry on, so I carried on and added loads of mashed pumpkin, warming spices, chocolate chips, eggs and all the other usual muffin stuff.
It was at this point I discovered we were completely out of sugar, so I emptied all our honey into the mix in the hope that any salt left would be disguised. The kids came home from school just as I finished with the mixing. Desperate to lick the bowl they dipped their fingers in, and promptly spat the mix back out into the sink.
Undeterred I figured maybe cooking would sort it out, although I wasn’t going to go to the hassle of spooning out individual muffins so I just lobbed it all in a cake tin. Baking doesn’t making things less salty. I hope the chickens don’t find it too salty!
Come again soon – if you’re lucky I may be able to regale you with a tale about snow… but don’t count on it!
Sarah the Gardener : o )
Reading your post just now I think it’s pretty fair to say that weather all over the world has just been really odd this yr! We’re supposed to be in summer and yet we’ve not hit temperatures over 20 degrees yet! It certainly tests us gardeners . PS – I think that cake looks very tasty:-)
Hi Sophie. Each time the weather does something strange they say it is the worst ever and it is abnormal, but strange seems to becoming the norm! Each time we garden in odd conditions we learn something new and it makes us better gardeners, which is really cool!
While the cake looks really good – it tastes really bad! I am going to have another go today – but with sugar this time not salt!
Cheers Sarah : o )
The chickens will be pleased with an unexpected treat on such a blustery day! Poor cake…
Hi Jenn. Hopefully I won’t end up with dehydrated chickens! That cake is very salty!
Cheers Sarah : o )
LOL!! Been there done that! The last time I created a cake recipe it was edible to me but very dense after you’d eaten it and the boys hated it so it went stale but not being one to waste it I put it out on the picnic table and watched as dozens of little birds feasted on it! Unfortunately my cat also feasted on two of the birds; maybe they found it a bit heavy too and had trouble flying!
Hi Mel. I don’t bake often so it makes it all the more frustrating when I stuff it up. Maybe I was distracted at the time?!
Cheers S : o ) x
Oh!!!! That cake brought back all sorts of horrid childhood memories which centre around the day my mum, for reasons known only too her, decided we were going to have savoury mince and onion sponge for tea with jam sponge and custard for pudding and she put the wrong sponge with the wrong topping.
Sweet jam with a plain sponge and custard wasn’t as bad BUT to get to that my sister and I had to first eat the vile tasting savoury mince and onion which had been topped with the sweet sponge!!!!! We had to eat it because there wasn’t anything else to have instead, although I seem to recall my father leaving his and taking himself off to the local pub which just so happened to serve food as well.Oh dear, my stomach is churning at the memory of it.
For some completely unimaginable reason, my father loved savoury sponge but trust me on this, even with the correct topping it isn’t the nicest thing in the world …….. sponge should be sweet and contain yummy things like fruit, jam and cream.
Oh my goodness. What a tragic childhood memory. I hope you weren’t too traumatised by it.
Cheers Sarah : o )
Lol, you have no idea 😀
Although I have been brave and, despite the memory and trauma (which you must admit would have been huge), I have faced my fears and eaten jam sponge and custard on numerous occasions ….. it’s therapy … 😉
Oops! I remember my mom baking two pies for company one day – one rhubarb and one raspberry. She accidentally doubled the sugar in the raspberry and put none in the rhubarb – two pies ruined. 🙂
Hope the weather is improving for you.
Hi Heidi. It makes is a little worse when the cake you ruin is one that contains loads of things that you actually spent a lot of time growing! At least the chickens seemed to like it. So it wasn’t a complete waste.
Cheers Sarah : o )
I’m so sorry to hear about the terrible weather. It seems unrelenting. I’m glad yo were able to selvage some peas (or more accurately, that the mice left a few behind). Sigh. I hope you keep your power on, and that the rest of your neighbors come out form under this nasty weather unscathed.
Hi Alys. Fortunately we were pretty much untouched by the storm, however some areas were quite badly hit. Thanks for your kind thoughts.
Cheers Sarah : o )
I too baked this morning; a lovely carrot cake for afternoon tea for my little kiddies and friends. Guess who ended up eating my carrot cake? My naughty (but nice) chocolate lab aka Coco. She’s inside convalescing after eating rat poison and I forgot to hide the cake. I thought I saw her grin and sniff the air extra happily when I waved goodbye and shut the door! …..
Hi Sarah. It is so frustrating when you put loads of effort into baking something and then for whatever reason you can’t eat it.
Cheers Sarah : o )